Hermann Carl DUNKER

Excerpt from Rawlins County History:

Herman Dunker, Sr. (Apr. 4, 1854 - Aug. 6, 1920) was the sixth and lastchild of Henry and Anna Hedwig nee Meier Dunker of Oiste, near Verden,Province of Hannover, W. Germany. He immigrated in 1872 to Iowa wherehe worked until Feb. 8, 1879 when he married Dorothy Rengstorf (Sept. 14, 1858-June 28, 1893) in Chicago. She was the daughter of Henry and Meta Margaret (Reunitz) Rengstorf of Eitzendorf (near Oiste).

The newlyweds purchased a farm near Bremen, KS, where they resided from1879 until March 13, 1888 when they came on the first train to arrivein Ludell bringing livestock, implements, furniture, and family memberswith them on that journey. In the fall of 1887, Herman had traveled onfoot from the nearest railroad depot in Nebraska to make advance realestate overtures in Rawlins County and erect a frame cattle shed so thefamily would have a home once they came. Three days after arrival, their son Fred Dunker was born in this structure. Sometime following, about 1890, a two-story frame home was erected. Skilled in carpentry, Herman and his neighbor, Henry von Engeln, constructed the other farm buildings with hired assistants during the next decade. They also planted a large orchard. Herman was a diligent worker, extremely energetic, so that eventually he owned nearly 2,000 acres in an era of horsepower and manual labor.

Ten children were born in 14 years to his first marriage. Anna (Oct. 30, 1879-Sept. 29, 1932) married first Fred Kuhlmann, then Willie Munstermann; reared 2 sons and 1 daughter. Henry (Jan 26, 1881-Feb. 20, 1961)studied theology 1897-1903; he married Augusta von Engeln, and had 2 daughters. John (Aug. 8, 1882-Mar. 12, 1962) was a Ludell grocer 1925-1962; he married Lizzie Reuber and had 3 sons. Emilie (Nov. 30, 1883-May 10, 1958) lived in Nebraska 1907-1925; she married Louis Neuhart and had4 sons and 5 daughters. Herman (Aug. 17, 1885 stillborn) was buried inImmanuel Lutheran Cemetery, Bremen, KS. Herman, Jr. (July 20, 1886-Dec. 5, 1979) was a Ludell farmer; he married Marie Domsch and had 4 daughters and 3 sons. Fred (Mar. 16, 1888-1950), an Oberlin merchant and Ludell farmer, married Charlotte and had 2 daughters. Martha (Apr. 14, 1890-Jan 2, 1954), a Ludell homemaker, married Henry Timm and had 5 sons and 1 daughter. Ida (Nov. 24, 1891-Dec. 24, 1982), married Fred Holle and had 4 daughters and 1 son. William (July 17, 1893-Aug. 6, 1893) was buried near his mother in Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, Ludell.

Herman Dunker's second marriage Sept. 20, 1894, was to Anna Kuhlmann (June 25, 1871-Apr. 20, 1903), daughter of William Kuhlmann, Sr. and hiswife Marie (Heinrichs) formerly of Beecher (Chicago), IL. Born to thisunion were five children. William (Sept. 15, 1895-Sept. 13, 1967) livedin California 1939-67; he married Grace Meyer and had 1 son and 1 daughter. Hulda (Apr. 6, 1897-Jan. 14, 1970), an Atwood homemaker, marriedMartin Luedders and had 3 daughters and 2 sons. Ella (Aug. 16, 1899-Jan10, 1988), a Ludell homemaker, married Edward Holthus and had 2 sons.Lydia (born Jan. 17, 1901) is a Ludell homemaker; she married TheodoreHolthus and has 2 sons and 1 daughter. Regina (Oct. 6, 1902-Feb. 1, 1985) a Blakeman homemaker, married Henry Focke and had 3 sons.

Following the death of his second wife, Herman married Marie (Riggert)Timm (1855-1939), a widow, Sept. 22, 1907, whose only son Henry Timm (Feb. 14, 1880-Dec. 1, 1964) joined the family circle. She assisted in raising the ten unmarried children yet in the household and became knownaffectionately as "Oma" Dunker.

In 1915 he became a charter member of the Ludell Equity Cooperative Board of Directors. During the same decade and before he was elected as one of the three Rawlins County Commissioners serving the 2nd District, on the Republican ticket. He also served as an executive board member ofthe National Bank in Ludell. Greater than his civic and agrarian interests, however, were his involvements with Trinity Lutheran Church, whose property he donated in 1891, although it verbally had been in the congregation's possession since his purchase in the autumn of 1887, at which time a sod school building had been erected. During those early years, the Dunkers housed Trinity's teachers and itinerant pastors until aframe parsonage could be built in 1889. Of emphatic religious persuasion, Herman insisted on parochial school instruction and a strict observance of the New Testament Sabbath (the older children on Monday lightedat 2:00a.m. the fire under the copper boilers, and elementary school commenced) with no thought of being manual labor on Sunday. Sundays werefor public worship, Bible reading, noon fellowship, afternoon socializing (usually followed by a nap) and perhaps brief entertainment after the evening milking and mandatory chores.

After an unusually energetic career (he learned to drive at the age of61 after purchasing a 1915 Dort sedan), Herman contracted stomach cancer and passed away at the age of 66 in Topeka, KS, where he sought medical treatment. His remains, together with those of his three spouses, rest within the Trinity cemetery, surrounded by the rolling prairies which became his home for the final 32 years of his sojourn.

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